Is It Okay To Have Dinner With The Spider

【二十一】ATIRNASPEOP

A months has been. On two opposite ends were those who were planning a war, and those who wanted to mend back a relationship. No matter how you look at it, these events were connected - fate woven into each other. And at the center of it all was the one named Spider.

Tetsuki, Chika and Hozuki worked hard in tracking her down. But it was no easy feat. Nothing like that ever was. She was a free spirit, someone who went wherever she wanted and had no clear base. Even Chika who thought the Red Sanctum was her usual location, was wrong. They spent days and nights, visiting places they should've been and scribbling all over the map. The action was inevitable. If they couldn't apologise and heap this burden off their backs, their lives would never be complete. For Hozuki, she wouldn't be able to bear it if she couldn't complete this mission with them.

Reina stayed in the den with Hikado and his thugs, not having any other place to go. Back then, her days looked forward to the nights she would spend with Tetsuki. But even that, the small light that had sparked in her life, was no longer something she could see to. Yamato lived joyfully, eagerly waiting for the time when Hikado's plan would be complete. After all, he'd been promised a seat next to the Hikado's throne when all was complete. And speaking of the big boss, his own preparations had been meticulous; counting the men needed and measuring every single inch of the poison needed for the mission. If he didn't complete his side of the bargain, this would fail.

And strangely, Reina hadn't a convulsion until the very last day of preparations.

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Reina gasped and sticky red blood sprayed out of her mouth, splattering the rock floor as she fell to the ground. She put out her arms to protect herself on instinct, but they slowed and she fell flat on her face. It was the poison again; it slowed her reflexes by half.

Every cough she took, sent quakes throughout her body and she shook like never before. Her vision shook, unable to focus and she found herself gasping for air. Her throat was closing and opening, causing air to come limitedly. Reina tried to call for help in this desolate state she was in, knowing that she was too valuable for these people to give up, but her mouth was too dry.

She felt like giving up, but suddenly a hand touched her on the shoulder. A strong arm lifted her up, as if she were as light as a feather and carried her. Her consciousness was lost before she could figure out who it was.

"Quickly! Move out of the way before she's really beyond rescue!"

Reina finally woke up to the sound of beeping and constant pricks in her arm. There was still the taste of blood in her mouth, but at least her convulsion had stopped. It stopped? But usually it would go on for so much longer... She paused and then sat up suddenly but experienced the result of that risky action. A wave of shock rippled though her spine and a gasp escaped from her mouth. Wincing at the pain.

"Ah, you might want to lie back down again," a voice noted. Hikado was doing something, with his back facing towards Reina at the bed.

"Hikado," her voice was strained, a side effect from the convulsions. But she'd not experienced it like this, because she'd always been alone in those quakes, no one had been there to help her. But here was Hikado. "You stopped it? Was it you?" she asked urgently.

He turned around and a grin spread on his face. "Miraculous men do miraculous things. Of course it was me, Reina-chan~!"

She looked around. No one was around to hear her name. Reina was in Hikado's medical research office, usually restricted to everyone else unless it was an emergency. So she'd been important to be brought here, where the equipment was more advanced than anything he had in the normal infirmary. Shelves and shelves of bottles and medicines of all kinds covered one wall and Hikado's research table stretched against another wall. His small leisure are contained a small couch and a coffee table which held a flower vase with a large lily in it.